Macular Thickness Measurements Using Stratus Optical Coherence Tomography in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria

Abstract

Background: The need to establish the normal parameters of the macular is important for early detection of its changes in various causes of maculopathy. Objectives: To determine the normative values for macular thickness in healthy Nigerian adults in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria and to correlate macular thickness values with gender, age, axial length, refractive errors, and intraocular pressure in adults using Stratus Optical Coherence Tomography. Material and Methods: Consenting 178 (101 males and 77 females) adult Nigerians with normal eyes were recruited and examined using Carl Zeiss Stratus Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) machine Model 3000 software version 4.0 from December 2014 – December 2015. Results: One hundred and seventy-eight (178) eyes of 178 subjects were assessed. Mean age of subjects was 36.4 ± 11.7 years. Mean Total Macular Thickness (MTMT), was found to be 238.03 ± 16.83μm with an average of 240.45 ± 17.34μm in males and 234.84 ± 15.70μm in females. Significant correlation between MTMT with age (P = 0.000) and parity (0.043) was observed but not with ethnicity, axial length and refractive error (P = 0.315, 0.551 and 0.071 respectively).Mean Central Foveal Thickness (MCFT) was found to be 180.30 ± 19.22μm. However, it was 185.73 ± 18.06μm in males and 173.18 ± 18.46μm in females. MCFT was significantly higher in males than females (P = 0.000). Conclusion: Total macular thickness and central foveal thickness measurements in healthy Nigerian adult eyes in Zaria are presented in this study and results are comparable to that reported in previous studies. However, large population study is required in Nigeria six geopolitical zones in order to derive a reference value for the country. Keywords: Eye, Macular, Optical Coherence Tomography